The Disappearance of the Queen

Queen’s Disappearance

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished. The King stood on the top of the castle and looked over the rooftops of the Kingdom of Ravenwood. The kingdom had been so named because there were lots of ravens everywhere, the woods were full of them, and even two ravens lived in the castle garden. He and his wife had been trying to conceive a child but without success so far. A gypsy caravan stopped outside of the kingdom gates. The gypsies wished to entertain the folks, sell some crafts, and tell fortunes. Queen Isadora was quite excited by the prospect as she told her husband perhaps the Fortune Teller would inform her when they were to have a child. King Ferdinand had been skeptical but decided it might be a good source of some fun for the folks who lived in the kingdom. Now the gypsies were gone, his wife had disappeared, the river had gone odd, and someone had just informed him that a witch had taken up residence in the cottage in the woods.

The Witch

The witch had searched far and wide until she could find a suitable kingdom to take over and become a most powerful sorceress. She chose Ravenwood because she had had ravens as her faithful messengers for many years. Her evil plan was to concoct a potion that would turn her into the Queen and the Queen into a haggard witch but still realizing she was once the Queen. Then she would take her rightful place beside the King and soon through her powers she would rule him and the kingdom. Taking the Queen was an easy task but the two pesky ravens from the castle garden after receiving the gift of speech went flying away in fright.

Trevor and Jake

Trevor and Jake were best friends, two six-year-old boys who lived next door to each other. The boys were curious to see what a witch looked like and they were determined to go to the cottage in the woods to see. They quietly left their houses at midnight and bravely went out of the kingdom, across the field, and into the woods. A full moon lighted their way but Jake had a piece of candle and some matches in his pocket. They reached the clearing and walked up to the cottage. There was a light burning in the window. The boys realized they were much too small to see over the windowsill and looked around the clearing to see if there was anything they could stand on. They found a log but it was heavy so pulling and pushing they strained to move it. Finally, they got the log beneath the window and stepped onto it. Peering into the cottage the boys saw the witch sitting by candlelight with a large book before her on the table and a black cat by her feet. Then Trevor poked Jake and both boys saw that in a chair against the wall, the Queen sat in a trance.

English Speaking Ravens

They nearly fell off the log from surprise and then jumped to the ground, Trevor and Jake went running through the woods and burst out into the field panting. They had no idea what to do next when the raven sitting above them on an oak branch addressed them, “Did the witch scare you?” With eyes as wide as saucers the boys looked up at the ravens. They cackled back, “Yes, yes, the witch cast a spell on us and then we flew away from her”. At this point, Trevor and Jake told the ravens that the witch had the Queen in her castle. The ravens told the boys to go back to their homes and they would fly to the castle to let the King know. The boys ran toward the kingdom gates and the ravens quickly flew toward the castle.

In the Morning

Early the next morning as the folks in the kingdom were going about their morning chores they were surprised to see the royal coach drive through the gates. The King nodded and smiled at the folks as the coach rode up to the schoolhouse. The school bell had already sounded and all the children were inside. The King stepped out of the coach and walked up the steps and into the schoolhouse. The teacher was quite surprised but Trevor and Jake got up and shouted, “We found her, we found her”. The King smiled and patted their heads. Then he brought the boys up to the front of the class and said, “These two boys are heroes. Last night they were naughty to go into the woods to see what a witch looked like but then they saw she had my wife, the Queen in her cottage so they came out of the woods as heroes.”

Six Guardsmen

The King had sent six of his guardsmen to capture the witch and return the Queen to the castle. The burly men pushed open the door to the cottage and greatly surprised the witch who was stirring a very large cauldron. The witch tried to elude them and ran out of the cottage door. The guardsmen chased after her and the angry witch decided to toss a huge fireball at them. She had reached the river bank and had nowhere else to go. Standing there she faced the approaching guardsmen and flung back her arm to zap a fireball at them but the riverbank was slippery and the witch fell into the river. The moment that she hit the water the river returned to normal, the water churned up in little waves, and swept the witch away. As the guardsmen hurried back to the cottage they saw the Queen walking out of the door. She looked confused and frightened. The men told her what had occurred as they all walked out of the woods into the field. At this moment the King was riding out of the gates in the royal coach, He stepped out and his wife ran to him. They kissed and embraced and there was great joy in the kingdom and the parents of Trevor and Jake were very proud of their boys. The only spell that had not been broken was the one placed on the ravens and the King and Queen found it very amusing that they could converse with the birds in the castle garden.

Holiday Time

During the Christmas season, Ravenswood hosted a Christmas fair, and this year with all that had happened promised to be the biggest and best fair ever. After the small Christmas elves had finished lighting all the candles on the very tall Christmas tree in the square the King and the Queen stood before it and addressed everyone. They announced that the Queen was with child and there was great joy in the kingdom.

Many miles away in a far-off kingdom a very angry, frustrated, and ugly witch dripping from head to toe was clawing her way up the riverbank…